This Creamy Smooth Cheesy Summer Pasta dish is a staple in restaurants in Rome, Italy. Not only delicious, it has to be one of the easiest preparations ever. It literally takes minutes from start to finish. Just toss the pasta and serve.
Tip : Do not drain the pasta, just transfer the pasta with a pair of cooking tongs directly from the boiling water to your serving bowl. The combination of the heat from the pasta and the water that you transfer from the pot will cook the eggs yolks and will create a creamy consistency sauce.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 medium lemon zested
- 1/2 medium lemon juiced
- 1 tbsp pesto or fresh basil finely chopped
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 lb smoked bacon cut into match sticks (optional)
Pasta
- 4 nests dried linguini
- kosher salt for the pasta water
- 2-3 sprigs fresh parsley chopped fine (optional)
Instructions
Gather all ingredients before starting the recipe.
- Bring water in a medium pot to boil, add a generous amount of kosher salt.
- Add sauce ingredients to a pasta serving bowl.
- Mix ingredients with a fork and stir until the yolks are blended with the remaining ingredients.
- Cook pasta, until al dente, this should only take 2-3 minutes if using fresh pasta, a little longer if using dried pasta. Use package directions for dry pasta.
- Transfer al dente pasta directly from the pot to the serving bowl and stir and toss to combine. The heat from the pasta and water from the pot will cook the sauce ingredients.
- Toss pasta until the egg mixture and the pasta are completely combined. Top with bacon bits or just top with some more grated parmesan cheese.
Author Notes
As a general rule, use one egg yolk, 2-3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese, 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 linguini nests for serving 1-2 people. These quantities will yield left overs for one. Double the above ingredients for 3-4 people and use 3 egg yolks, with proportionate increases in parmesan, olive oil and pasta for 5 or more servings. Use lemon to your taste but no more than 1 whole lemon, regardless of servings.
